6 Things You're Good At

Part of my night time ritual is reading various lifestyle blogs before bed. A recent ‘tag’ within the blogging community has been ‘6 things that you’re good at’ which I thought was a most appropriate pick-me-up; especially for discouraging/frustrating days. Below is my list, what are YOU great at? It doesn’t have to be makeup or beauty related either.

1. I’m great at MacGyver-ing and being crafty. This weekend I transformed some old candles into containers for cotton swabs and eyeliners. I’m planning on adding a decorative ceramic figurine to the top of the jars for a more charming touch. My next project is to find some cute nightstands to completely revamp. I want to paint (I was thinking a bright seafoam) and add some cute shabby chic knobs to them.

2. I’m great at finding things online! Rather it’s finding an apartment or researching a particular piece from one of my favorite designers I can usually do a fantastic job of narrowing down what I need.

3. I’m great at planning things. From trips to parties, I really enjoy the entire process of getting things together for a special event.

4. I’m great at recognizing dog and horse breeds! When I was younger I was fairly certain that I wanted to be professional dog and Arabian horse breeder. Every chance I got when I was younger I would research and learn all about dogs and horses. It’s kind of funny, but show me a dog or a horse and I can usually tell you what breed it is; this is especially handy for when my friends want to know what their mutt might be.

5. I’m great at maintaining a healthy lifestyle! Over the last two years I’ve really been making an effort to eat and live healthy. I aim to work out 5 times a week, no longer use ‘toxic’ household cleaners, and avoid processed foods. In doing this I’ve been able to dramatically improve my overall way of living. I aimed to avoid toxic chemicals not just for my health (a lot of products can trigger my asthma), but for the health of my pets too.

6. I’m great at being a good friend. I really value the people I love in my life. I always make myself available for advice, hangouts, etc. I will give the shirt off a friend’s back if they need it.

Re: 6 Things You're Good At

I warned you, you are going to get far more detail than you thought possible. I refrained from adding pictures though, I do have a bit of restraint! Never mind, YOU ARE GOING TO LEARN THIS.

Ahem.

Cheese curds are what you get in the first step of making cheese. You add a couple of things to milk to help turn the lactose in the milk into lactic acid and it starts to get thicker and thicker, eventually kind of firm sour cream textured.

At his point the way you treat the milk depends on the type of cheese you are making, for a soft cheese you want to keep lots of moisture present and for a hard cheese you want to get lots of the moisture out. Cheesemaking is kind of an icky looking process sometimes, so picture a large tub/vat of firm sour cream, if you leave your sour cream container on its side, when you come back later you'll have some liquid which has separated out a bit, right? You want to have the same thing happen with your cheese, but to a greater extent. Grab a giant version of one of those avocado cutter things

and run it through your cheese, it's kind of like cutting jello, the cuts stay there but mostly everything keeps the same shape until you disturb it. The more little pieces it gets cut into, the more liquid (whey) can get out.

Here is someone improvising with a plastic container and a knife.

For eating on poutine or deep frying you want about the size of dice, plus or minus a bit, maybe as big as your pinky finger.

That's about all there is to that type of cheese curd, some people dye them orange (cheddar that is orange always has annatto (or something else) added for that, white cheddar is the way it turns out naturally.) oh, and salt should be added too, pretend I said that earlier. They're a mild tasting cheese and they are famous for squeaking against your teeth (the fresher, the more squeaky!)

All cheese starts out as curd (the little bits in cottage cheese are a curd too) but starting with just milk, salt, rennet, and a starter culture (these two things are what control the milk turning to curd quickly and properly) you can make hundreds and hundreds of different cheeses just by altering the way you treat the same 4 ingredients!

Re: 6 Things You're Good At

Dammit, it's 10am for god sake and now you are making me craving cheese!

Haha, I made ricotta(ish)/soft cheese from milk, vinegar and salt. I want to try other kinds but not sure about how to get rennet or starter culture without it getting too messy and me getting too paranoid about bacteria. I guess I'll just console myself by grabbing a tub of mozerella cheese on the way home....=P

Re: 6 Things You're Good At

You can buy rennet in tablets that are bubble packed like pills, no chance of anything happening to them really. Apparently some supermarkets carry it near either the ice cream toppings or jello/puddings, looks like a common brand in US is Junket? I have never seen this one before, it looks like it is not intended for cheesemaking but can be used, you just need to make sure you're using instructions that account for it. You can also get a million different things online, but rennet tablets are a pretty worry-free way to go.

Mozzarella is super fun to make and SO good when fresh. I have seen people invite a few friends over for a cheesemaking party and have a great time drinking wine and making mozzarella. The problem then can be having to make a second batch immediately after the first one because it gets eaten so fast!

Re: 6 Things You're Good At

Lol, if this didn't convince you of my absurd cheese obsession, I grabbed this last picture from bbc's website by doing an image search for "cheese" There isn't any caption there about what these are but I am 100% certain I know what each of them are and could give you the name and address of the cheesemaker as well as an interesting story about each producer's recipe/cows/cheesemaking process.

Some people can do things like this with pictures of cars, cosmetics, jewelry, or clothes but for me it is cheese, hahaha.

Re: 6 Things You're Good At

1)Keeping secrets and being a good listener. Listening more than you talk is a big key to helping someone.

2)Dying hair... I've been doing it since I was 12 and I've never looked back!

3)Being a great cat-mommy... I love being around my cat and giving him the love he didn't have for years.

4)Being alone. Sometimes the best thing in the world is to spend time working on you with no distractions. When people lean on you a lot, you tend to get weighed down by their problems and you forget to take care of yourself. Self love is key.

5)Being unique... I have my own punky style that many might see as weird and put off by but I can only be me and if someone doesn't like it, they can move on.

6)Staying motivated. I always have to see things through to the bitter end. Everything is more interesting that way!

Re: 6 Things You're Good At

1. Being optimistic/cheerful. My coworkers always say that I'm good at keeping others in a good mood, and finding an optimistic or funny way to look at thing. I also have excessive amounts of energy, which tends to help

3. Empathy. Like some of the others have said, sometime I think I have a giant flashing sign on my head that says "tell me all about your problems!!" I listen well and avoid giving advice. Sometimes all someone needs is to talk.

4. Baking! I can make some mean sugary stuff

5. Martial arts... been taking a few types since I was 12, love it to death! Keeps me in great shape, and makes me feel confident I can defend myself should I ever need. I teach a lot, and it gives me a lot of pride to see my 'kids' progress and get new belts!

6. Self-entertaining. I can be home alone for an entire week and not be bored or lonely. When I work too many days in a row, I feel the need to hole myself up and "de-socialize!"

Re: 6 Things You're Good At

1. I'm good at eating.....no really, I eat everything. Chinese, Thai, Indian, Italian, Mexican, Nepalis, Brazilian, German. I have not met a food I didn't like.

2. I can cook pretty well and pretty healthy (as long as I'm not distracted thus burning it, or forget to put in salt). Smitten Kitchen is my bible. Mostly I just try not to put too much oil or sugar in things, or substitute with healthier alternatives.

3. I'm great with colors and random DIYs. I like watercoloring, so theraputic, and fashion (combining different color, texture, shapes etc), and make up.

4. Hmmm......I can type almost as fast as I speak without looking at my keyboard.

5. I'm super practical/rational/detail oriented. I'm not really a fun one at parties I think, but I'm good at planning/organizing things (nothing tests your leadership/planning skills like your superior suddenly telling you that you are in charge of an big event....2hrs before the event).

6. Hmmm......I'm kind of running out of things to say. Well, I am good at forgiving. I hate being wronged, but after letting it out/resolving it, I feel better and drop/ignores it. I've been at the end of unfair, racist, age-ist (is that a word? people publicly belittle/humiliate you cuz of your age?) comments ever so often, so I've learned to calm down my emotions before responding/taking actions. Tho I forgive, I don't forget, so I guess I am kind of petty, haha, but within reason.

*sigh* I'm working on the exercise, being more social off-line and self-discipline part. Wish me luck! =X

Re: 6 Things You're Good At

I agree! Sometimes I'd rather not know what I'm eating until after though, my brain just decides something can't be food so it's better to taste it first than know what it is. Or else you start wondering if the tongue you're eating is tasting you back, haha.

Re: 6 Things You're Good At

It would be amazing if BT was a physical place we could all hang out at whenever! I will bring a cheese platter if someone else brings some wine!

Cheese curds must must must be eaten as fresh as possible, 24 hours after they've been made and they're already not the same! I wouldn't turn down a nice poutine due to cheese curds that have been in a fridge though, it may be the most perfect food in the world!